When Angela’s police department accuses a 17-year-old girl of murder, only John and Angela know that the victim was possessed. Gabriel re-appears, but what is another arch-angel doing on our plain, and why is this angel with crimson wings watching John?

Chapter 6! Wow, I never
expected to be able to get out so many chapters in such a short
amount of time. I'm glad that most everyone likes it, so I'll
stop talking now and try to answer some of the questions that have
built up in the story.

Disclaimer: I
don't own Constantine or any of its characters, places, or…
anything else?

Chapter 6: Red Poppies
Grow Under Crimson Wings

June 23

Entry
#57

'Today's the first
full day I'm going to spend in the custody of John Constantine. He
seems like a nice enough guy, but I'm not so sure. I think there's
something going on that's more than just that woman killed by a
demon. It's strange. Last night when Chas got back late, they
thought I was asleep, and they started talking about what Chas had
found out. All I heard were a couple things about a demon named
Balthazar and an angel with crimson wings. I'm a little confused
about what's going on here, I think there's more than they're
telling me. But of course, I'm a supposed delinquent, I can't
think they'd tell me everything. But of course, that's why I've
borrowed some of Chas's books and I'm looking through them to see
if I can get some answers. I'm going to do some research now, I'll
write later.'

Aerin

John's
Apartment

June 23

Aerin closed her
journal and pulled the key out from around her neck, locking it. She
looked up at the stack of old tomes that she had piled on the table
beside her bed, and sighed. "I guess it's time to start working,
huh?" she said to no one in particular. Picking up the nearest
book, she began to read.

After two hours of hard
reading, the sound of the key in a lock of the apartment stirred her
out of the worlds that she'd been drawn into. "Probably John,"
she murmured to herself.

"Hey Aerin, you
here?" Chas yelled. He and John walked into the apartment, and John
threw himself into a chair.

"That prick just
ruined another hundred dollar shirt." He ran a hand through the
hair at the back of his neck. "What the fuck is with the exorcisms
lately? Why the hell are demons trying to escape into our world
again, if Mammon's still in hell? This must have something to do
with Balthazar."

Aerin's ears had
picked up the name 'Balthazar', and she was listening while still
flipping through the pages of the book.

"Looks like it. You
know, you could let me help out a little more," Chas began, but
John cut him off.

"I'm already
letting you help more by letting you watch. You almost died once
Chas, I don't need another ghost following me around."

Chas sighed in
frustration. "Anyways, where's Aerin?" he asked and then called
again, "Aerin! You in here?"

"Yeah," Aerin
called back. Pulling out a piece of paper, she marked her page and
opened the curtains to step out. Looking at John, she raised an
eyebrow. "Are you all right?" she asked.

"Why do you ask?"
John muttered.

"Because… you have
blood on your shirt?" she looked at him a little more closely.

"Fuck, that cut must
have opened again," he snapped at thin air. Getting up he walked
over to the sink, wet some paper towels, and opened his put them over
a cut on his arm.

"Do you need some
help?" Aerin asked tentatively.

"I'm fine,
fan-fucking-tastic," he growled. She looked a little taken-aback at
his response, but she just walked back to her corner, opened the
curtains, and then disappeared inside.

"Nice John that right
there, that was called arrogance." Chas ran a glass of water and
took a long drink. John just walked over to a cabinet and pulled out
some alcohol, dabbing it on his arm with a slight hiss.

Aerin meanwhile was
back to looking through the book when she came across an interesting
section labeled, 'The Hierarchy of Angels'.

"That's odd…"
she said under her breath. "I'm getting the weirdest feeling that
this is important somehow," she began to read it carefully.

'The hierarchy of
angels is the order in which they fall in importance. The highest
level of angel is the Seraphim, with Cherubim below them and the
Thrones under Cherubim. The lowest level of angels contains the
regular Angels, with the Archangels just above them. There are seven
known archangels, the most common of which is Gabriel, but the others
include Michael, Raphael, Anael, Samael, Sachiel, and Cassiel. At the
present, very little information is known about Anael, Sachiel, and
Cassiel. However, the Archangel Michael appears at least three times
in the bible.

Perhaps the most
commonly known appearance is in Joshua 5:14 when he says "As
commander of the army of the Lord, I have now come."

He also appears in
Revelation 12:7 - 'And war broke out in heaven; Michael and his
angels fought against the dragon.'

Michael is the head
of God's heavenly army, and is said to wear armor whenever
appearing in front of mortals, but his most distinguishing feature
that separates him from other angels is his crimson wings.

Aerin immediately
stopped reading, her finger poised over the page. Crimson wings…
the feather! Grabbing the book, she jumped through the curtain and
skidded over to the table. John and Chas looked up in surprise.

"Aerin, what's up?
You look like… I don't know what you look like." Chas said as
he looked up at her.

She rolled her eyes.
"I'm going to overlook that comment for a moment because of what
I just found. John looked at her.

"What did you
find?" he asked. Then, noticing the book in her hands, he said,
"Isn't that one of mine?"

"Oh, yeah, sorry, I
was curious about some stuff so I borrowed a couple, I hope that you
don'tmind? Anyways," she paused to haul the heavy thing
up onto the table, "I found something that I thought might want to
know." She opened the book to the page her finger was holding, and
pointed out the part about Michael.

John read through it,
his face never changing. As soon as he was done, Chas pulled it over
and read what Aerin had pointed out. After Chas finished scanning
through the section, he turned to Aerin and smiled.

"Nice job," he
said. "So we're dealing with Michael are we?" he leaned back
and frowned. "At least I now know what to look for," he muttered
to himself. Turning back to Aerin and Chas he said, "I'm going to
pay another visit to Midnite's tonight. Chas, Aerin, are you two
going to come?"

This time, both of them
looked surprised.

"You're asking me
to come?" Aerin asked, at the exact same time Chas said,

"You're asking her
to come?" He looked over at her and then at John. "It took you
forever to let me come along, and she can't even get in!"

John smirked. "And
you can get in?" Chas scowled.

"I'm getting
better," he glowered. Aerin couldn't help but laugh, the first
genuine laugh that the two of them had heard her give.

"Well, I'm not sure
what Midnite's is, but I think I'll figure something out." She
smiled. Chas just sighed.

"Fine," he said.
"But can we eat something, I'm hungry."

June 23
– 9:30 PM

Midnite's
Club

Aerin looked at the
outside of the building, it didn't seem like much. Shrugging
inwardly, she followed Chas and John through the door. The red light
closed around her, and the sound of barely repressed music flowed
through the walls. John strode up to the man and, as he held up a
card said,

"Dog under a tree."
The man wordlessly moved the cord and John walked through, only
turning around to see if Chas and Aerin got through.

"Aerin," Chas said,
"Wait here for us. We won't take too long." Turning to
the bouncer who held up a card he said,

"Um…" he squinted
for a moment, concentrating. "Hippo on a log?" The man once
attain unlatched the cord, and Chas walked through. Aerin stepped up
to the man who pulled out another card. A strange look passed over
his face for a millisecond, and then was gone.

"Hippo on a log,"
Aerin said with a smile.

"You know John, it
won't work," Chas said. "I remember when I tried-" he stopped
and stared as the man pulled the cord aside.

"What the fuck!"
he half-yelled as Aerin stepped through. "How… how did you…?"

Aerin laughed again. "I
figured from the look on his face that he pulled the same card that
you guessed. So… I guessed the same thing." She grinned. "I
used to play a lot of poker. I guess it paid off?"

John smirked at the
look on Chas's face. Looks like she did figure something out," he
snickered. "Come on, Aerin needs to meet Midnite."

TBC…

There. How was Chapter
6? Like it? Chapter 7 up soon!

Eagle

The author would like to thank you for your continued support. Your review has been posted.